David Rohrbacher | New College of Florida (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by David Rohrbacher
Proceedings of the Langford Latin Seminar, 2018
In the historiography of the later western Roman empire, the study of ethnic identities and ethni... more In the historiography of the later western Roman empire, the study of ethnic identities and ethnic differentiation has been a central, if fraught, preoccupation. 1 As new peoples emerged and then merged with the inhabitants of the empire, identities formed and changed in complex ways. The shifting self-presentation of the Christians in relation to the Jews and pagans also raises interesting questions about religion and ethnicity. 2 Of course scholars are aware of the challenge of using highly rhetorical and often highly traditional textual evidence. 3 But given the inadequacy of archaeological evidence, scholars have focused on late antique texts to explore shifting responses to ethnicity. The most extensive late Roman biographical work, the collection that moderns call the Historia Augusta, provides a tempting site for such evidence gathering. The nature and purpose of this bizarre and untrustworthy collection are fiercely contested. Still, generations of scholars have assumed it provided a record of the author's and his audience's views, stereotypes, and assumptions, even if the historicity of the work was often questionable. I contend in this paper that this approach is not, unfortunately, productive, and that the occasional discussions of ethnicity represent textual play, often allusions to Ammianus or Jerome or others, rather than reflecting any coherent position, or even stereotyped observation, on ethnicity or ethnic groups.
Classical Quarterly, 2021
how they should be loved?' and even going so far as to suggest that the whole pentameter is funda... more how they should be loved?' and even going so far as to suggest that the whole pentameter is fundamentally corrupt and should be obelized. Of the three conjectures, Gibson regards Mayer's as the 'least unconvincing', but, following on from Kenney's non proba, the more euphonious improba is possibly worth contemplating. It is true that improbus often signals moral disapproval: note, for example, Cic. Scaur. 8 libidinosam atque improbam matrem infami ac noto adulterio … diligebat. 6 Thus it may be argued that, while Ovid contrasts improba with casta at Ars am. 2.400 when averring that the previously chaste Clytemnestra's unfaithfulness was prompted specifically by Agamemnon's behaviour, the word still suggests wrongdoing on her part since a married woman was not supposed to take a lover. Consider, however, Am. 1.8.43 casta est quam nemo rogauit (words admittedly spoken by the lena Dipsas, but implying that all women are potentially improba), remembering the raw animal-passion which characterizes most women throughout the Ars amatoria. 7 Note too Tr. 2.441 nec sunt minus improba Serui | carmina, 8 where Ovid's defence of the Ars amatoria, based on literary precedent, admits that it might have been improba, although it was no more so than the poems of others, who had not been censured. 9 Finally, as Gibson remarks in the introduction to his edition, 10 '… as has frequently been noted, the disclaimers [sc. about the exclusion of matronae] not only contain ambiguities of phrasing, but also are often playfully expressed, appear in contexts which provoke scepticism about their seriousness, and frequently draw attention to, rather than resolve, issues of social and marital status'. As for amanda, this must be understood as meaning not 'should be loved' but rather something like 'lovable' (that is, amabilis), 'fit-to-be-loved', or perhaps even 'unable not to be loved'. 11 Illustrative of this is perhaps Ars am. 2.107 ut ameris, amabilis esto, where Ovid asserts that those in pursuit of love should be lovable rather than relying on things like magical arts and love-philtres.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Among the delights of Ammianus' Res Gestae are his Roman digressions (14.6 and 28.4), in which he... more Among the delights of Ammianus' Res Gestae are his Roman digressions (14.6 and 28.4), in which he offers a harsh but hilarious picture of urban life at the end of the fourth century.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 131.247.152.4 on Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:28:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SHORTER NOTES 323 In Livy, Cn. Manlius Volso, cos. 189 B.C., is able to use the example of Tarentum as part of an argument from eugenics designed to convince his troops that the Celts who had migrated to Galatia are nothing to fear: Tarentinis quid ex Spartana dura illa et horrida disciplina mansit? ('What has remained to the Tarentines of that hard and rugged Spartan discipline?') (38. . Tarentum, among other exempla, proves Volso's maxim that 'whatever grows in its own proper place is sounder (generosius); transplanted to soil alien to it, its nature changes and it deteriorates (degenerat) towards that in which it is nourished.' Once again the sentiments resonate with the Regulus Ode. In Horace's poem, too, Tarentum, a town that has lost its essence, is an object lesson in the consequences of not maintaining links with the past."1 The last two words of 3.5, Lacedaemonium Tarentum, encode a peremptory admonition to the reading Roman which encapsulates the stark moral of this Roman Ode: show respect for the past, maintain the Roman way-or go the way of Tarentum.
Book Reviews by David Rohrbacher
Books by David Rohrbacher
Proceedings of the Langford Latin Seminar, 2018
In the historiography of the later western Roman empire, the study of ethnic identities and ethni... more In the historiography of the later western Roman empire, the study of ethnic identities and ethnic differentiation has been a central, if fraught, preoccupation. 1 As new peoples emerged and then merged with the inhabitants of the empire, identities formed and changed in complex ways. The shifting self-presentation of the Christians in relation to the Jews and pagans also raises interesting questions about religion and ethnicity. 2 Of course scholars are aware of the challenge of using highly rhetorical and often highly traditional textual evidence. 3 But given the inadequacy of archaeological evidence, scholars have focused on late antique texts to explore shifting responses to ethnicity. The most extensive late Roman biographical work, the collection that moderns call the Historia Augusta, provides a tempting site for such evidence gathering. The nature and purpose of this bizarre and untrustworthy collection are fiercely contested. Still, generations of scholars have assumed it provided a record of the author's and his audience's views, stereotypes, and assumptions, even if the historicity of the work was often questionable. I contend in this paper that this approach is not, unfortunately, productive, and that the occasional discussions of ethnicity represent textual play, often allusions to Ammianus or Jerome or others, rather than reflecting any coherent position, or even stereotyped observation, on ethnicity or ethnic groups.
Classical Quarterly, 2021
how they should be loved?' and even going so far as to suggest that the whole pentameter is funda... more how they should be loved?' and even going so far as to suggest that the whole pentameter is fundamentally corrupt and should be obelized. Of the three conjectures, Gibson regards Mayer's as the 'least unconvincing', but, following on from Kenney's non proba, the more euphonious improba is possibly worth contemplating. It is true that improbus often signals moral disapproval: note, for example, Cic. Scaur. 8 libidinosam atque improbam matrem infami ac noto adulterio … diligebat. 6 Thus it may be argued that, while Ovid contrasts improba with casta at Ars am. 2.400 when averring that the previously chaste Clytemnestra's unfaithfulness was prompted specifically by Agamemnon's behaviour, the word still suggests wrongdoing on her part since a married woman was not supposed to take a lover. Consider, however, Am. 1.8.43 casta est quam nemo rogauit (words admittedly spoken by the lena Dipsas, but implying that all women are potentially improba), remembering the raw animal-passion which characterizes most women throughout the Ars amatoria. 7 Note too Tr. 2.441 nec sunt minus improba Serui | carmina, 8 where Ovid's defence of the Ars amatoria, based on literary precedent, admits that it might have been improba, although it was no more so than the poems of others, who had not been censured. 9 Finally, as Gibson remarks in the introduction to his edition, 10 '… as has frequently been noted, the disclaimers [sc. about the exclusion of matronae] not only contain ambiguities of phrasing, but also are often playfully expressed, appear in contexts which provoke scepticism about their seriousness, and frequently draw attention to, rather than resolve, issues of social and marital status'. As for amanda, this must be understood as meaning not 'should be loved' but rather something like 'lovable' (that is, amabilis), 'fit-to-be-loved', or perhaps even 'unable not to be loved'. 11 Illustrative of this is perhaps Ars am. 2.107 ut ameris, amabilis esto, where Ovid asserts that those in pursuit of love should be lovable rather than relying on things like magical arts and love-philtres.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Among the delights of Ammianus' Res Gestae are his Roman digressions (14.6 and 28.4), in which he... more Among the delights of Ammianus' Res Gestae are his Roman digressions (14.6 and 28.4), in which he offers a harsh but hilarious picture of urban life at the end of the fourth century.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 131.247.152.4 on Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:28:15 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SHORTER NOTES 323 In Livy, Cn. Manlius Volso, cos. 189 B.C., is able to use the example of Tarentum as part of an argument from eugenics designed to convince his troops that the Celts who had migrated to Galatia are nothing to fear: Tarentinis quid ex Spartana dura illa et horrida disciplina mansit? ('What has remained to the Tarentines of that hard and rugged Spartan discipline?') (38. . Tarentum, among other exempla, proves Volso's maxim that 'whatever grows in its own proper place is sounder (generosius); transplanted to soil alien to it, its nature changes and it deteriorates (degenerat) towards that in which it is nourished.' Once again the sentiments resonate with the Regulus Ode. In Horace's poem, too, Tarentum, a town that has lost its essence, is an object lesson in the consequences of not maintaining links with the past."1 The last two words of 3.5, Lacedaemonium Tarentum, encode a peremptory admonition to the reading Roman which encapsulates the stark moral of this Roman Ode: show respect for the past, maintain the Roman way-or go the way of Tarentum.